Today's Sports

The season before Curt Schulte took over as head coach, the Glenwood basketball team won just one game.

Friday night - 12 years and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears later - the Rams became state champions.

A brilliant game plan that had Glenwood spacing out a taller, longer Oskaloosa team and challenging every shot defensively proved the difference as the Rams pulled away late for a 66-62 win before a reporter-estimated crowd of 8,000 at the Wells Fargo Arena in the Class 3A state finals.

In a state semifinal game that featured nearly a dozen lead changes and neither team extending a margin further than five points over three and a half quarters, this was a game that would be decided by a handful of plays.

A steal. A late layup. Free throws.

For Glenwood it was check, check and check as the Rams made all the little plays down the stretch to upend two-time defending state champion Cedar Rapids Xavier 69-63 Thursday to advance to its first ever state title game.

What is Glenwood’s reward for a thrilling 20-point comeback and the school’s first victory at state in 62 years?

How about two-time defending state champion Cedar Rapids Xavier?

The Rams, who battled back from a 40-22 halftime deficit to defeat Norwalk in the state quarterfinals Tuesday will face the top seeded Saints (19-6) in Thursday’s 2 p.m. Class 3A semifinals at the Wells Fargo Arena.

COUNCIL BLUFFS – The Glenwood Rams are going to state for the third time in program history.

Monday night, nearly three years to the day since punching the school’s first ticket to state since 1952, the Rams survived a Harlan three-point barrage in Council Bluffs with some hot shooting of their own late in the game to preserve an 82-69 victory in the Class 3A sub-state finals. The win secured a spot in next week’s state tournament.

Glenwood started the game hot and never cooled off in a 92-36 victory over A-D-M in their Class 3A, Substate 8 opener Monday in Glenwood.

The Rams (20-2) hit 11 of their first 16 shots and led by as many as 35 points in a the first half that saw them take a 54-21 lead into halftime.

“We shot the ball really well,” said Glenwood coach Curt Schulte after the game. “And it wasn’t just one or two guys shooting it well, we shot well as a team. I’m not sure what we shot but it had to be pretty good.”

For most wrestlers, winning a state title elicits an unmistakable out-pouring of emotion.

There’s the guttural scream. The leap into a coaches arms. The dropping to the knees as tears pour out.

Caleb Sanders, seconds after winning his first state title with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Dubuque Hempstead’s Dylan Olson before a crowd of 20,000 at the Wells Fargo Arena, had his own ideas of celebration

SIOUX CITY – Sioux City Bishop Heelan used a mix of defenses and an aggressive offensive attack to open the game on an 18-5 run and cruised to a 60-20 victory to end the Rams’ season Saturday in the Class 4A, Regional semifinals in Sioux City.

The Rams (8-14) never got on track offensively as the Crusaders built a 32-10 halftime lead.

Boyer Valley used a 14-2 second quarter run to pull away from Fremont-Mills for a 62-42 win in the Class 1A, Region 7 semifinals in Treynor Friday.

The loss ends the Knights’ season with a record of 15-10. The state rated Bulldogs (20-2) advanced to Monday’s regional final against Exira/Elk-Horn-Kimballton. Results of that game were not available at press time.